HC grants protection to student against college order

The Bombay High Court has granted protection to an engineering student whose admission on reserved seat was cancelled by his college pending submission of caste validity certificate.

“Since the petitioner has moved the Scrutiny Committee way back in August 2010, we do not find it appropriate that his admission should be cancelled at this stage,” a division bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice A A Sayed said in their recent ruling.

The judges further directed the Divisional Caste Scrutiny Committee at Nashik to dispose of Prasad Pawar’s application for caste verification within three months.

The bench also allowed the petitioner to continue his studies for Bachelor of Engineering (BE) course subject to a clear understanding that if his caste claim is invalidated, no equity shall be created in his favour and his admission would stand forfeited.

Pawar, who claimed to be a member of Rajput Bhamta community, had been admitted to first year BE degree course on a reserved seat. He had applied for verification of his caste certificate before the Divisional Caste Scrutiny Committee at Nashik in August 2010.

Although his application was pending, Pawar’s admission was cancelled by the college through a letter dated February 9, 2012. To support his claim, Pawar argued that his three sisters had already been granted a caste validity certificate by the Caste Scrutiny Committee.

The petitioner submitted that he was called upon by the Scrutiny Committee to produce documents on June 22, 2011 to which he submitted a reply on November 17, 2011. Yet, a caste validity certificate had not been issued to him by the Caste Scrutiny Committee.